The use of a multiple power supply environment in a computing system has become widespread. For example, a blade server is a stripped down server computer with a modular design optimized to minimize the use of physical space and energy. A blade enclosure holds multiple blade servers and provides services such as power, cooling, networking, various interconnects and management. Together, the blade servers and the blade enclosure form the blade system. The blade system includes the multiple blade servers, and includes multiple power supplies. In the typical multiple power supply environment for a computing system, the capacity of the main voltage output of the power supplies is usually sized for N+1 redundancy such that one supply can fail or be removed for service with the system in operation.
Many modern computing systems have a standby mode. To operate in the standby mode, the computer system may only require a lower, standby voltage from the power supply. A modern power supply often has a separate standby voltage output, in addition to the main voltage output. When a power supply receives input power, the power supply provides the standby voltage. Main voltage outputs are turned on later, possibly in response to a signal from a system controller.